Software Engineering Manager

Manager - Software Engineering

Department: Information Technology

Reports To: VP and Chief Information Officer

Position Type: Full-time, People Manager

About NLC Insurance Companies

NLC Insurance Companies is a mutual property and casualty insurer serving policyholders and independent agents throughout New England. NLC combines established insurance expertise with continued investment in technology, process improvement and employee development.

Position Summary

The Manager of Software Engineering leads NLC’s onshore and offshore software engineering team and is accountable for the people, the delivery and the platform. The role manages and develops the engineers, sets and enforces delivery and quality standards, owns the Guidewire platform from an application engineering perspective including production support and escalation, and provides technical direction across the Guidewire ecosystem and its integrations. The role serves as NLC’s engineering authority for Guidewire while deliberately building that expertise across the team.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

· Lead and develop the engineering team, including setting expectations, documenting goals, holding quarterly check-ins, coaching, addressing underperformance early and hiring. Apply performance expectations consistently across all direct reports.

· Set and enforce delivery and quality standards, including development standards, testing discipline, code review practices and documentation expectations, and use defect, rework and delivery trends to guide corrective action.

· Own the Guidewire platform from an application engineering perspective, including production support standards, the support rotation and escalation paths. Serve as the escalation point above the rotation for issues that exceed its scope, require a decision or cross teams.

· Provide architectural direction and technical governance for Guidewire and its integrations, define standards and patterns, manage technical debt, and ensure skill coverage and certification across the team to reduce key-person risk.

· Manage offshore and vendor-delivered engineering work to the same expectations as internal work, with defined measures for quality, productivity and handoffs and a documented review cadence.

· Report project and operational status, risks, dependencies and required decisions to IT leadership and business stakeholders on a regular cadence, with judgment about what is material, timely and actionable.

· Align engineering capacity to priorities set through the intake and portfolio process, and route special requests through that process rather than ahead of it.

· Collaborate with Technical Services, PMO, Business Analysis, QA and Network Security to deliver and support solutions, and bring the engineering team into cross-team work rather than carrying it alone.

· Provide technical direction on platform strategy, including Guidewire Cloud evaluation, emerging Guidewire capabilities and AI-assisted development, with recommendations to IT leadership.

· Provide input to the annual IT budget and to engineering vendor contracts, statements of work and tooling decisions.

· Build team capability through the Engineering Practice program, mentoring and knowledge transfer, so the organization does not depend on a single resource for Guidewire expertise.

· Perform other duties as assigned. Some after-hours availability is required for releases and production issues.

Required Qualifications

· Five or more years of Guidewire InsuranceSuite development experience, including Gosu and Java, with PolicyCenter configuration and integration depth.

· Three or more years leading software engineers, including offshore or vendor resources, with accountability for delivery and performance.

· Guidewire PolicyCenter certification.

· Property and casualty insurance experience, with emphasis on personal lines and business owners lines of business.

· Agile delivery experience with Git, Jenkins, Jira and related tooling, and working knowledge of web services, XML and SQL.

· Demonstrated ability to communicate project status, risk and technical direction to leadership and business stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

· Guidewire Ace certification, or ClaimCenter and BillingCenter certifications.

· Guidewire Cloud experience.

· Experience with consumer and agent facing portals.

· Experience with AI-assisted development tooling and practices.

· Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems or a related field.

Work Environment and Availability

This is a full-time position based in NLC’s Norwich, Connecticut office and is eligible for NLC’s approved hybrid-work arrangement. Work-location and hybrid-schedule requirements are based on business needs and are subject to change. After-hours participation is required for planned releases, implementations and significant production events.

Disclaimer

The statements above describe the general nature and level of work performed in this position. They are not intended to represent an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. Responsibilities may be adjusted based on business needs and the employee's qualifications and experience.

• NLC Insurance Companies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or veteran status.